At the afterparty for the FilmDistrict and Millennium film, Butler -- who stars as a disgraced Secret Service agent tasked with saving the president who is being held hostage -- held court in the main entrance way, talking to friends about the film. A security guard gently tried to encourage them to move the gathering inside, but the group was completely enthralled with Butler’s stories.

Director Antoine Fuqua tells The Hollywood Reporter that if it weren’t for Butler, he wouldn’t have gotten involved with the film.

“Gerard had read the script, and he called me,” he says. “I read it and said, ‘OK, if we can ground it and make it feel more real, let’s do it.' ”

The director, whose credits include Training Day, Tears of the Sun, Shooter and Brooklyn's Finest, says he was challenged with a tight schedule, having only six weeks of prep and an accelerated postproduction. But neither of those obstacles came anywhere close to the challenge of re-creating Washington, D.C., in Shreveport, La.